Fifty Six Minutes
by Jackie is Grey
Summary: Maybe that person will never have to suffer of regret, or maybe the time will come where they will. But we have no control over that. / 9.11 story.


**I don't own Austin & Ally**

* * *

There's always this realization that things end, when things actually happen. The realization when someone else loses someone... and then you realize what has happened and what could happen and what is something, that no matter what you do, will happen

I'm talking about death.

Time is a misunderstood concept, it's considered that time should be appreciated and used every second of everyday, and not waste any bit of it. But that is a wrong concept; occupying time for it not to go to waste is completely wrong and irrational

Time should be valued, prefer that small moment in time that you will remember in three weeks than those longs hours and hours that seemed boring and slow and constant, for that indeed is a true waste of time.

But in the end in a few days, weeks, months... that thought always leaves the mind of the unaffected, returning once more when something horrible happens to once again, _someone else _and just then will the vicious cycle continue and continue and maybe that person will never have to suffer of regret, or maybe the time will come where they will

But we have no control over that.

We never did

* * *

Ally woke up at seven a.m. on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. The sun was shining and letting a pattern of light in through the binds, leaving her with a warm sensation on her skin. Two strong arms wrapped around her torso protectively, his breathing steady and calm against her ear. She turns around and looks at him sleep, hoping he'll wake up soon enough because she's well aware that no matter what, she can't escape his embrace.

The brunette wrapped her arms around him and treasured the moment of him breathing, in his sleeping state, his blonde hair tussled and messed up in a strangely attractive manner, shirtless with gray pajama bottoms.

"Austin... wake up... it's morning" Ally whispered to the sleeping figure in front of her, softly while humming a small tune and clearing his face of hair that got in the way of his eyes.

The blonde made a grunt and exhaled, holding her in place "Don't tell me, I thought it was night time..." he peeked a hazel eye open and saw those doe eyes looking back then fully opened them "Morning." he greeted with a lazy smile

"Good morning" Ally greeted back and tried to get out of his embrace but he kept his arms linked around her "Austin," she struggled slightly "Let go... I have to get dressed for today."

"Don't go, stay all day with me... we can watch Lion King and eat popcorn" he begged, loosening his hold on the girl until she finally wriggled away and began to rummage through their closet for an appropriate outfit

"When I come back, we can." Ally answered, trying to choose a blue suit with a skirt from a black one with dress pants, Austin then propped himself on his elbow and looked over at the digital clock.

_**7:07 a.m.**_

"What time should you be coming back?"

"Around noon..." The blonde groaned and threw himself against his pillows, muttering on why the world was against Lion King for some reason "You know this presentation is big for me" The brunette remarked, choosing the black suit with dress pants

"But I'll miss you..."

"Austin we've been dating since we were seventeen, we've moved to a different state together. I think you'll survive a few hours without me"

"Can I play Halo with Dez while you're gone?"

"Sure."

* * *

Ally read through her binder once more, reading very important details she shouldn't miss out during the presentation, fresh, bathed and dressed already with her hair in a ponytail, she drank her tea and tried to calm her mind. She was nervous to the core, first of all for the public speaking; growing up with stage fright meant that a public and her didn't get along so well.

Austin came out of their bedroom, noticing the brunette on the counter top drinking tea from her '_Only a Genius Can Drink from This Cup_' mug that he had gotten for her when she had turned sixteen and making gestures with her hands while reading the paper she could recite, backwards and in her sleep

Trust him; he's heard her mutter the numbers multiple times at night.

He looks at the clock on the kitchen wall

_**7:46**_

So instead of making his presence known, he sneakily went behind her and covered her eyes, with one of his big hands (at least, compared to her) and with the other pulling the binder out of her hands and letting it to the side, Austin made the seat turn to look at him and he pressed his lips against hers softly and then pulled away and pecked her lips between each word

"Stop" Kiss. "Worrying" Kiss. "Everything" Kiss. "Is" "Going" Kiss. "To" Kiss. "Turn" Kiss. "Out" Kiss. "Great" Kiss.

Ally giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, playing with his hair between her fingers, content with the feeling of the smooth blonde hair in her skin.

"Thank you"

"You taste like strawberries"

"It's the tea"

* * *

At _**8:10**_, Ally had already left for her presentation and Austin wandered around shirtless through their apartment, he sighed and went towards the shelf under the TV and VCR player, and grabbed the Lion King, opening it up a gold ring fell out onto the floor The blonde sighed picking the small thing up between his fingers and tucked back in there.

"Someday Ally... someday I'll actually do it" he muttered to himself, pushing it back with the other movies they owned.

A displeased meow echoed through the apartment as Austin stood up to look at the brown, black and creamed colored cat with different spots of orange and lighter brown on her body, it was a cat Ally had found on the street when they had moved to New York, despite Austin's hate towards the "ugly" cat, she kept her.

"What? Like you could propose to someone like Ally" he muttered back as the cat looked at him with lazy eyes and stretched letting out a few comments

"Meow, meow." the cat answered

"Oh shut up Electra" Austin dismissed the feline

"Meow"

* * *

"What the _**fuck **_was that?"

"Was that an earthquake?"

"Oh good Lord, look at the North Tower!"

The clock on the wall marked _**8:46**_ a.m. with forty seconds ticking, time was passing by when a loud crashing sound was overheard in the South Tower of the World Class Trade Center. The four people in one of the offices of the 70th floor all looked at the window and bestowed at the horror of the currently burning twin of the tower.

A man came into the room, looking exasperated from rushing "Nobody panic but a plane crashed into the North Tower, we're evacuating the building." the man informed then left the room, continuing to announce it in the rest of the building.

The crowd of people tried to leave the room but Ally's eyes were glued onto the window, on the a blazed building, with smoke pouring out of it as if it had been hidden there for years. Her co-workers shook her slightly reminding her they had to leave the space. She pulled her eyes away from the pane and walked through the door, her legs so nervous that they couldn't stop shaking and the brunette tripped.

Her friend Elliot helped her up once more as she thanked him but her eyes were still glued on the other building, she saw people running away in the street as the size of ants, and as she distracted herself she observed the building beginning to perish in flames as people lost their minds and jumped.

Seventeen minutes later at _**9:03 **_in the morning people in the building Ally was at, there was a giant shaking of the building at most of the people were on the floor because of the turbulence caused by an unknown reason, Ally looked around and saw the desperate faces of her co-workers and the people around her. There was indeed a fire in the room but also, part of the ceiling was missing and bodied scattered the room

"Another plane crashed into the tower!" A woman shrieked as panic rose through the room. People fighting to get to the door and evacuate with even more pace than before, Ally was shocked, she couldn't move her mind froze and all that was possible for her was to cover her ears by the screams of the men and women in the room.

Her senses soon came back to her as she got up with her nervous and wobbly legs, trying to leave the area. But soon a part of the ceiling fell down as well, to her side, causing the flame to disperse closer to one of the windows, the alarmed people screamed higher and fought harder in the attempt to escape as the brunette looked around the room and thought of one thing.

_Austin_

As people stampeded to leave, finally Ally could get away from the room and searched for a set of stairs A in the side of the building which were fortunately intact. Seeing the sign she ran and began to lower quickly step by step with the intent of not tripping over her own feet, few people around her with such a state of consternation and confusion they ran past her, lowering as quickly as they could.

* * *

At _**9:12**_ Austin received a phone call from his best friend Dez, who had moved from Miami to New York with him, Ally and their best friend (and currently, Dez's wife) Trish. The blonde grabbed the phone, and answered

"Hello?"

"Austin? Austin? Austin it's Dez,"

"Hey Dez, what's up?"

"Have you heard anything from Ally?"

"No, she went to work about an hour ago, Dez you're scaring me what's wrong?"

"There's a rumor about a terrorist attack, Austin. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center,"

The words echoed through the blonde's ear and Austin dropped the phone to the ground in shock, his mind screamed for one thing repeatedly as no other though invaded him more: _Ally. _ His Ally, his delicate thing being pushed around by millions of people in a crazed frenzy for escape, Dez's voice continued to sound through the phone

"_Austin? Austin? Austin, pick the phone up, this isn't the time to_-"

"Dez tell me everything."

"It's on the news turn on the TV, some group, they wanted to... Austin just put the TV on"

* * *

The tower was filled with smoke, heat came from everywhere as she lowered the stairs shaking, screams filled her ears as she chanted to continue going forward and to avoid what was around her until she arrived at the sixty fifth floor, she went against her mind and heard the screams coming from one of the offices, she looked over to the room on fire as people hollered for their blazed bodies, jumping through the window shrieking in despair.

Her eyes glistened with tears for the people who were stuck in the room, she looked at her watch, _**9:19 **_and continued to go down the stairs, and she couldn't waste more time she still had to lower the remaining floors so she could not hesitate any longer.

She continued to descend until the smoke became too heavy for her lungs; she took off her suit jacket and tied it around her mouth and nose before advancing once again. The tears now fell freely from her eyes as she began to think about Austin.

She cursed at herself and the stupid presentation, she should have listened to her boyfriend when he said they should just stay together for the rest of day and call it a lazy Tuesday.

Austin, she needed to see him. To see his bleached hair and magnificent smile that could correspond to a three year old, to hear his giggle because yes, her Austin Moon had an adorable high pitched giggle. She needed to run her fingers through his soft hair, to caress his skin when they don't want to get up and to feel him laying down on the bed and wrapping his arms around her while singing a lullaby is a hushed tone just in case she was actually sleeping but she never was.

She needed her Austin Moon, the one who wanted to propose to her with a ring inside of a movie box.

* * *

As the clock on the TV marked _**9:27**_ Austin's eyes did not tear off the screen as he saw the building filled with smoke and the constant reminder that the love of his life was in there. He had muted the reporter because with constant words on the victims and the comments of the people falling he didn't need any of the bullshit that came out of the mouth of the man.

Dez had hung up a while back to go over to Austin and Ally's apartment with Trish.

Austin's head hung while he stabbed his fingernails into his scalp as he let out a vulnerable sob of pain, he pulled at his blonde hair and hoped that someone_, someone_, _something _would take care of his Ally, because he knew that running toward the World Trade Center would only cause him so much pain. Austin continued to cry as Electra jumped on the couch and sat down, looking at the TV intently.

He looked up at the screen, as he saw fireballs falling out of the building; his heart ached as it came to his realization without the stupid newscaster that those fireballs were people who threw themselves to their deaths.

The front door swung open with a woeful red eyed Latina looking over to the blonde and a red head whose usually elated and jubilant attitude was now missing. The blonde sniffed with a wan look on his face as he stood up slowly walking towards them, not showing any intent of hiding what was tearing him up inside and out

"Oh Austin," Trish walked over and opened her arms towards the taller boy, who gradually accepted the embrace, and hugged her back. He felt so empty, useless and drained from anything else.

They all sat down on the couch even though Electra wagged her tail at them in anger, Austin's hand never left Trish's wrist.

* * *

Ally hurried down more stairs and even more smoke poured in and the jacket wrapped around wasn't doing too much to help her, breathing in deeply she leaned onto the rail and put a hand on her chest, looking forward and seeing a sign that indicated that she was on the 40th floor.

When she placed a hand on her chest she touched something hard by surprise than realized she had her cell phone in her breast pocket of her shirt. Hysterically she began to claw at her shirt to reach for the mobile device, she saw the time on the small object _**9:46**_ but as well she saw that she had so little battery left, ignoring the fact she continued to walk down the stairs and dialed the number, after ringing twice, the adored voice she missed rang out.

"Hello?"

"Austin!" She exclaimed relieved, her eyes began to sting with more tears as she continued onward, she knew that breathing would become even more difficult if she cried

"Ally…?" A voice broke through the other side of the line; she nodded frantically and continued to speak

"Austin, baby it's me. Oh my God, Austin. I love you, I love you with all my heart." she confessed, tears blurring her sight as she considered that these could be her last words to him but she erased those thoughts from her mind and heard his voice break

"I love you too Ally, are you okay? Please tell me you're not hurt; please tell me you're alright." His exhausted voice hummed into her ear.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, and there isn't a scratch on me. I'm going down the stairs; I'm in the South Tower."

"Ally please, love. Be careful."

"I am, baby... just... I love you so much," Then, the brunette took into realization that if this was the last conversation she had with her soul mate that he should know a few things before being separated "and if I don't make it out-"

Austin interrupted because his heart couldn't take it. "Ally, do not say that, I need you." He begged for her not to continue!

"Austin, please! I need to say this!" Ally cried, and was greeted with a small silence which she accepted to make her confession "I love you with all my heart and my soul, you are my soul mate and the only person on this earth which I want to be with, so if I don't come out. Yes, I would've married you; I loved your stupid proposal with the Lion King thing..."

"Ally...-" he broke down but Ally continued

"Tell Trish that she was the most unique and beautiful best friend I was blessed to have her protecting me from the crib and that I love her and I'm really happy she's happy and thank Dez for being the older brother I could never have because he really meant the world to me and I love him so much"

"I will, I'll tell them. Ally I love you..."

"Austin, just... you are my happiness, okay? You are the reason I can smile even though I have to wake up at six a.m. You are one of the reasons why people say I have a spontaneous and bubbly attitude, you have shown me so many things and I'm so grateful that you have done that to me. I love you. "

"I love you too Ally..." he whispered into the device "Be strong, be safe and be careful, love."

"Yes, yes of course. I love you. Take care of Electra."

"Don't mention the cat now Allyson, I love you too."

"I would've love to have been Allyson Moon" she whimpered as the knot in her throat elevated higher and higher

"Ally please don't say that"

"Don't you ever-" she began but the line was cut since the cell phone turned off. "Forget that I love you."

* * *

The line had been cut because of the cell phone's reception he had guessed but, Austin had thrown the phone against the wall, allowing it to break into different pieces as let out a strangled yell of his wounded and demoralized heart. Trish looked at her friend with a withering look in her eyes as Austin fell to his knees in tears, falling to the floor and not finding hope to get up, Trish sat on the floor next to him, weeping silently, rubbing his side softly mumbling words trying to comfort both of themselves.

Dez kept a stolid look in his face, as he focused on the buildings that were being filmed from street level, he breathed in slowly looking down and closed his eyes, hoping that Ally would be okay, that Ally was doing fine, that he would see her face once more and tell her how much she appreciated her in his life. She was his best friend as well; he didn't want to lose her.

"Ally said she loved you guys" Austin spluttered out a few minutes later, "She said that Trish was the most beautiful and amazing best friend she could have ever had and that Dez," He choked "She said you were the most amazing older brother she never had."

Dez sat on the ground and all of three of them stayed together lamenting whatever was going to happen, holding hands as they saw the building on fire through the silver screen. Trish kept her head on Austin's shoulder and continued whispering thoughts of encouragement even though it seemed as if she were convincing herself more than the blonde.

The clock turned to _**9:52**_ as Austin choked out

_"Don't take away my Ally."_

* * *

The dark cloud of black smoke clouded Ally's vision as she continued to pick up the pace and lower the hundreds and hundreds of stairs, her jacket wrapped around her neck still even though its usefulness was beginning to fade. For some reason hearing Austin's voice gave her a slight hope that she'll make it out somehow, and if she didn't at least she told Austin about the proposal.

Her hand continued shaking on the wall as she walked down, once again she looked at her watch _**9:56**_ and she read a sign that said that she was currently in the 29th floor as she went on. Lowering step by step she had the belief that she could make it out, and see Austin again.

Austin, Austin, Austin. Kissing Austin, holding Austin, her and Austin making love, Austin's teasing and his featherlike touch when his fingers traced her face, the late nights where they would lay in bed and talk about any subject possible, sometimes he made her feel as if she were a book character, lost in the third dimension that he could only bring her there

Austin... was Austin. He was unexpected, when he appeared in her life, she didn't truly expect him or his effect on her, her heart, her mind, and her feelings. He was like the calming sound of the light pitter patter of drizzle on an April Sunday morning in her destructive brutal hurricane of simply being herself. She didn't even know how she could begin to explain how grateful she was to have him

Lowering the stairs, her eyes were once again humid with tears, she began to hear sounds of more screaming became of a sudden impact into her mind; she became aware of her surroundings once she looked up, her mouth agape. The stinging in her eyes became stronger, with the dust in the building as everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

Crashing sounds were echoed off the walls in the building, cracks and things destroying and breaking and just disappearing, cries were heard constantly as the building began to fall apart and Ally continued to lower herself but stopped after the moment where she decided there was no more hope for her. She stopped in her place on the stairs and breathed, softly wishing she weren't so alone in her last moments.

_You're never alone Ally._ A voice whispered as she looked around, it seemed as if fifteen year old Austin were there next to her, smiling. She reached her arm out to touch it but felt nothing in return. Her hallucination made her weep silently as the voice whispered _what's something that you want to tell me, Ally?_

"That you showed me how the real world is like." she whispered back, hiccupping and looking into the illusion's eyes, seeing the once young and elated spark that it held when they were younger was replaced with a shaken and appalled expression.

_And how is it like?_ The figure continued as everything stopped towards Ally and convinced her own thoughts that her own mind was only going to help her

"Horrible." She answered, choking, smoke filling her lungs but she paid no matter to it and continued to answer "But you made it seem as if it were amazing. Thank you." she confessed to her mind

The clock ticked _**9:59 a.m. **_

_I'll always be here._ The fifteen year old Austin whispered as he stretched out his hand and touched her cheek, Ally's mind so far gone now with all the adrenaline and the energy out of her system she could've sworn she felt his calloused fingers

"Except now," she nodded as the ceiling began to fall down and as if were a game of building blocks stacked up upon each other slowly the higher parts of the buildings began to fall and overcome the lower parts of the building. The ceiling came down and Ally continued to look into the mirage's eyes. "And you have no idea how happy I am because of that."

* * *

As the TV showed a recording of the high building in the center of New York, collapsing to the ground in what seems to be seconds, the fire caused steel structural elements, already weakened from the plane impact, to fail. It had burned for fifty six minutes straight but Austin, Trish and Dez had no reaction yet

"Dez, what tower is that?"

"I don't know"

"Dez, what tower was that?"

"Austin, I don't know"

"What tower is it?" He directed his sight to the muted TV "Which fucking tower was it?!"

The red head scrambled to grab the remote control and caught a bit of the narration of the reporter, declaring _the South Tower had collapsed, The South Tower had collapsed_

"It's the South Tower?" Austin's voice broke as he faced the screen, hurt, he looked at his friends who nodded and expected to tell them that Ally had been in the other tower and was still alive

"No, there must be a mistake" he demanded and looked at the screen hearing comments on the collapsed building. The newscaster continued to report about the South Tower and the North Tower continued to burn next to it.

"It is not the south tower" Austin shouted at the screen, trying to convince the man on the other side of an error but the man didn't pay attention the blonde and continued to speak "No! It is not the fucking South Tower! IT'S NOT!" Austin seethed "That's bullshit! Don't lie to me!"

Trish and Dez held each other but said no words, as Austin broke down in front of the box repeating the same thing as he lost hope in his own words, falling down on his knees once more and bawling "It can't be. THE NORTH TOWER WAS STRUCK FIRST!" he fumed

"-_crashed the similarly hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 into the southern facade of the South Tower, striking it between the 77th and 85th floors_"

"She's still alright, she said she didn't have a scratch." his demoralized voice whispered to himself but the man continued to speak despite his efforts

_"-single stairwell was left intact; however, only a few people managed to pass through it successfully."_

"Austin what's going on?" Trish begged, sitting next to him and embracing her broken friend softly

"_**Ally was in the south tower!**_" He screamed at the Latina who backed away, his breathing ragged as he heaved, his red eyes and tear stained face, his jaw shaking as he swallowed and shook his head lightly "Ally was in the South Tower" his defeated voice confessed as Trish gave him a stagnant looked and held onto Dez as she began to sob uncontrollably. Dez deadpanned and held his wife in his arms and turned off the station, then walking over to Austin and holding the two in his arms, silently allowing himself shed tears

* * *

Time passed and Trish and Dez were living with Austin but currently going out to buy groceries, Austin stayed in the house by himself, constantly whispering to himself how he could offer anything just to have Ally by his side but no forbidden voice came to tell him that the offer could be acceptable.

He had called all the hospitals, calling for Ally Dawson and trying with _Ally Moon_ but no one knew anything, slowly with time he confessed to give up.

The twenty two year old lay on the couch and watch Disney films like The Jungle Book or 101 Dalmatians, when he went to change the movie, Lion King fell out with the golden ring onto the floor.

He broke down for the fourth time that day, relentlessly repeating how he should've done it sooner, how no one considered a boyfriend to be a widow even though that's how he called himself. Cowards shouldn't be able to live while the strong and brave die young.

A meow echoed through the apartment and Austin looked over his shoulder and with a displeased grunt he turned around "What are you doing here? Aren't you dead? I haven't fed you."

The street cat replied with a meow as she made her way to the couch and laid down in the previous site where Austin had occupied

"What do you want Electra?" Austin asked much to his dismay

The feline let out a few meows, looking around but then looking towards the blonde let out a slight hiss to the tall man

"Fuck off stupid cat." Austin said exasperated as he turned around and began to put the movies back in place, Lion King, now ring less as he twirled it in his hand

A long and annoyed meow came from behind him as he let out his breath. "I won't feed you, in case you didn't notice, I don't like you. Ally liked you, she's the only reason you're not dog meat on the streets" he snapped at the animal who once again replied with a meow

"She's not coming to feed you, Y'know." Austin painfully muttered to himself, staring at the cat, ring still in his palm, the cat's tail wagged unpleased and stayed silent looking at Austin through yellow eyes "Mreow." _Where is she then?_

"She isn't coming back anymore" he sighed, the pain in his heart returning once more as he let the gold band on top of the television, the young man walked away to go into the kitchen just to be reminded that there wasn't any more food. As he returned, the feline as followed him just to sit down and say "Meow" _Austin._

"What the fuck do you want!?" The blonde replied agitated as he walked away but the tabby followed behinds his footsteps. Meow, once again was his answer. _Where's Ally?_

"She isn't coming back!" He cried, facing the kitten, his heart breaking to his own words. The confession becoming heavier and heavier as the days went by, Meow, Electra responded to his grief. _Where did she go?_

"She's _**dead**_ you _**stupid**_ animal, she's gone. She _**died**_." Austin growled, he went into the previous room he was in before the cat entered and turned on the TV, recordings of the two towers were strewn on the screen "She died in there and she isn't coming back" He heaved, tears decorating his face like they had for the last days, his eyes turning red in pain. The feline stared at the screen for a few moments as if taking in the information, Austin smacked at the TV and turned it off.

The animal watched him intently as he shut his eyes forcefully and dropped to his knees, fisting his hair angered and releasing harsh breathes. He looked up to see the cat in the eye and couldn't say any words, simply shaking his head as his heart broke again feeling as if it had dropped to his stomach suddenly as the cold sensation spread into his chest, but it's beat remained fast and constant.

"How do you say goodbye to someone...-" he uttered, confused but it voice stayed almost under his breath but as he directed himself to the street cat he continued "-when they haven't,-" he breathed out shakily "-when you _know_ that... they're not, _there_ anymore?" he finished and looked at the cat as if expecting some type of answer, the feline didn't reply with meow. Instead, it looked at him, asking him to continue

"I just want to hold her and touch her hair and kiss her strawberry tea lips and never let her go again" he pleaded "-because she didn't _deserve_ to be so scared," he reasoned by himself "she didn't deserve anything that she had, she was twenty one years old!" he yelled

He dropped to the ground and the cat cuddled next to him, letting out a scent of strawberry tea onto the blonde, who shut his eyes allowing a few extra tears to escape as he embraced the orange tabby cat closely.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to her."

* * *

Today, if you're reading this is 9/11/2013, Or 11/9/2013. Twelve years ago was the day so many lives were taken away. And one of them belonged to someone I love.

I really don't know what to say to you guys, but _**Love everyone. **__**Trust few. A**__**nd don't hurt a single** **soul.**_

I can't remember who said that, but it's true.

You are all beautiful and I love you.

and this goes to my Mom; I miss you with all my heart, I want to see the snow with you. Thank you everything you did for me, dad and the boys when you were with us.

_In the end, love and friendship are things worth fighting for._

_Don't forget that._


End file.
